One problem continuously experienced in using a shopping cart is in preventing its movement on an uneven surface while loading goods into the vehicle. Commonly, the shopping cart is positioned for abutting the vehicle in order to prevent its movement. However, this method is not very effective during windy conditions as the shopping cart rolls off unexpectedly often causing surface damages to vehicles.
Another difficulty in using the shopping cart is experienced when a small child must be placed into the seat of the shopping cart. The effort of holding the shopping cart still while placing the child into the seat is often frustrating to parents and potentially dangerous to the child if the parent is unable to hold the shopping cart still.
Prior to the present invention, efforts have been made to alleviate the problem of preventing movement of the shopping cart. U.S. Pat. No. 6,834,869, U.S. Pat. No. 6,286,630, U.S. Pat. No. 6,199,878, U.S. Pat. No. 5,735,367, U.S. Pat. No. 5,390,942, U.S. Pat. No. 5,199,534 and Published Applications No. 2005/0194218 and 2005/0194219 are representative of various types of brake assemblies for preventing movement of the shopping cart. However, the prior art brake assemblies have several disadvantages. One disadvantage is due to a greater than desirable complexity of such prior art brake assemblies. Another disadvantage is due to modifications that are required in the existing shopping carts in order to use prior art brake assemblies. Yet another disadvantage is due to difficulty in stacking shopping carts that have been equipped with prior art brake assemblies.